Midjourney updates targeted image edits and tests live style previews. Midjourney says its edit model now leaves unselected pixels unchanged. Separately, an experiment on its alpha site lets users preview their prompt in different styles before generating an image. Avenews 25 September 2026 2 min AI Changing the selected area, not the whole image. Midjourney says targeted edits with its updated edit model now change only the pixels a user selects, leaving the rest of the image untouched. In its September 24 announcement, the company presents this as a way to make repeated changes without degrading image quality.[1] The improvements cover inpainting - editing an area within an image - and outpainting, which extends an image beyond its existing boundaries. For someone refining an image in several passes, the important distinction is the scope of each change: Midjourney says selecting an area now confines the edit to those pixels. Preservation of quality across repeated edits is the company's claim, rather than an independent test result.[1] Trying styles before generating. Separately, Midjourney is experimenting with fast models in the interface on alpha.midjourney.com. Its Styles sidebar can now show how the user's latest prompt looks in different styles. Turning on "Live previews" displays previews using liked and featured styles; clicking a thumbnail then generates an image with that style.[1] This makes the prompt itself the basis for comparing styles, before choosing one for generation. Unlike the announced editing improvements, the fast-model work is explicitly described as an experiment on the alpha site.[1] Less visible joins in repeated images. Midjourney also reports improvements to -tile for V8.1 and V8.2. This concerns the joins where tiled images meet: the company acknowledges that seams could previously be visible and says adjacent tiles now blend invisibly. For users arranging an image in a repeating pattern, that boundary is the practical focus of the update; the claimed seamless result remains Midjourney's assessment.[1]

Butterfly Network (BFLY) stock surges 22% following bullish analyst coverage. Tldr. Table of Contents * Shares of Butterfly Network surged 22% on Tuesday, closing at $9.93. * Needham initiated coverage with a Buy rating and established a $10 price target. * Analyst cited the company's semiconductor-based ultrasound platform and Embedded division as key growth drivers. * The company recently delivered record quarterly revenue reaching $32.6 million. * BFLY shares maintained momentum near $10 during Wednesday's premarket session. Butterfly Network (BFLY) shares surged 22% during Tuesday's trading session following Needham's initiation of coverage with a Buy recommendation and $10 price objective. The stock closed at $9.93, representing a significant increase from the prior session's $8.14 close. The upward momentum extended into Wednesday's premarket hours, though at a more measured pace. BFLY traded around $9.98, gaining approximately 0.5%, after touching a high of $10.05. Needham analyst David Saxon emphasized Butterfly's cMUT semiconductor-based ultrasound platform as a cornerstone of his optimistic outlook. The firm anticipates this technology could enable medical applications beyond the company's established handheld ultrasound portfolio. Analyst identifies expansion opportunities beyond traditional markets. Needham drew attention to Butterfly Embedded, a business segment enabling third-party companies to incorporate Butterfly's ultrasound-on-chip technology into their own products. Saxon views this segment as a strategic pathway for Butterfly to penetrate new medical verticals without shouldering the full burden of product development. The analyst also identified potential upside from Butterfly's core ultrasound business. According to Needham, several forthcoming products and applications could serve as near-term catalysts driving additional growth. Investors have shown particular interest in Butterfly's partnership approach. The company recently secured a multi-year licensing arrangement with Merge Labs to incorporate its ultrasound technology into the development of minimally-invasive brain-computer interface solutions. Butterfly has also established a relationship with Midjourney Medical, which is creating a comprehensive full-body ultrasound imaging platform utilizing Butterfly technology. Needham considers these Embedded partnerships crucial to its investment thesis. Needham's $10 price target now sits marginally above Tuesday's closing price of $9.93. According to FactSet data referenced by MT Newswires, the average analyst price target stands at approximately $10.50. Strong financial performance bolsters optimistic outlook. Butterfly's latest financial results provide additional support for the stock's rally. The company disclosed second-quarter revenue of $32.6 million, representing 39% growth compared to $23.4 million in the year-ago period. This distinction matters because certain reports erroneously cited $15.72 million as total second-quarter revenue. That $15.72 million figure represented product revenue exclusively, while software and additional services generated another $16.89 million. Gross margin expanded to 71.4% from 63.7% year-over-year, benefiting from higher-margin Embedded licensing revenue streams. Butterfly also reduced its adjusted EBITDA loss to $1.4 million compared to $6.2 million previously. Management increased its 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $119 million to $123 million and projects an adjusted EBITDA loss between $19 million and $23 million. The company reported $124.7 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June. Primary concerns include valuation metrics, ongoing operating losses, and uncertainty around whether emerging Embedded products will achieve meaningful commercial adoption. Needham also noted competitive pressure from established medical-imaging corporations and the likelihood that Butterfly will require sustained investment to advance future technology iterations. Currently, Needham's fresh Buy rating appears to have been the primary catalyst behind Tuesday's 22% surge. Recent trading activity shows BFLY maintaining levels near $10 Wednesday morning following its most significant single-day gain in recent history. Limited Time Offer Get 3 free stock ebooks. Discover top-performing stocks in AI, Crypto, and Technology with expert analysis. * Top 10 AI Stocks - Leading AI companies * Top 10 Crypto Stocks - Blockchain leaders * Top 10 Tech Stocks - Tech giants

LimeWire rebrands as ai-powered content creation and monetization hub bridging generative art with blockchain technology. admin September 6, 2026 8 minutes read The digital landscape is witnessing a significant pivot as LimeWire, a brand once synonymous with the peer-to-peer file-sharing era of the early 2000s, has fully transitioned into a high-tech ecosystem for generative artificial intelligence and decentralized content distribution. This evolution marks a departure from its controversial past, repositioning the entity as a sophisticated AI Studio that integrates content creation, blockchain-based ownership, and automated monetization models. In an era where generative AI is democratizing the ability to produce high-fidelity visual and auditory media, the new LimeWire seeks to provide a comprehensive infrastructure where creators can not only generate assets but also secure their intellectual property and generate recurring revenue through a proprietary tokenized economy. The historical transformation: from peer-to-peer to ai-powered studio. To understand the current trajectory of LimeWire, one must look at its historical context. Originally launched in 2000 by Mark Gorton, LimeWire became one of the most prominent Gnutella-based file-sharing clients globally. However, following a protracted legal battle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the platform was shuttered in 2010. The brand remained dormant until 2022, when it was acquired by Austrian entrepreneurs Paul and Julian Zehetmayr. Their vision was to leverage the brand's global recognition to build a legitimate, creator-centric platform utilizing Web3 and AI technologies. The re-emergence of LimeWire began with a $10.5 million private token sale in early 2022, led by prominent venture capital firms including Kraken Ventures, Arrington Capital, and GSR. This capital infusion provided the foundation for the LimeWire AI Studio, which officially moved the brand away from its legacy as a utility for secondary distribution and toward a primary destination for original content generation. The current iteration of the platform focuses on solving two primary challenges in the modern digital economy: the high barrier to entry for professional-grade content creation and the difficulty of monetizing digital assets in a saturated market. Technical Infrastructure of the LimeWire AI Studio. At the core of the platform is the LimeWire AI Studio, a multi-model interface that allows users to generate complex digital assets through natural language processing. Unlike many AI tools that rely on a single proprietary model, LimeWire has adopted an aggregator approach, integrating several of the industry's most advanced generative models. Currently, the platform supports: * Stable Diffusion 2.1 and Stable Diffusion XL: These models are utilized for high-resolution image synthesis, allowing for specific stylistic controls ranging from photorealism to abstract digital art. * DALL-E 2: Integrated to provide users with OpenAI's sophisticated image generation capabilities, particularly effective for conceptual art and complex prompt adherence. * Proprietary Models: LimeWire is currently developing its own in-house AI models to offer unique aesthetic outputs and improved processing speeds tailored specifically to the platform's ecosystem. The user interface is designed to accommodate both novice creators and professional designers. Features such as advanced samplers, quality fine-tuning, and style presets (including cinematic, pixel art, anime, and analog film) allow for a high degree of creative control. This technical versatility is a strategic move to position LimeWire as a competitor to established tools like Midjourney and Adobe Firefly, with the added advantage of integrated publishing and monetization. Blockchain integration and automated NFT minting. A distinguishing factor of the LimeWire ecosystem is its seamless integration with blockchain technology. While traditional AI tools often leave creators with questions regarding ownership and copyright, LimeWire utilizes the Polygon and Algorand blockchains to provide a definitive record of provenance. When a user generates and publishes a piece of content on the platform, LimeWire automates the "minting" process. This converts the digital image or media file into a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). By choosing Polygon (an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution) or Algorand (a Layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain), the platform ensures that transaction costs remain low while maintaining high security and environmental efficiency. This blockchain layer serves several functions: * Verifiable Ownership: Every piece of content is tied to the creator's digital wallet, providing proof of origin. * Secondary Market Royalties: LimeWire has implemented a smart contract-based royalty system. Creators earn a 2.5% royalty on all secondary sales of their content within the LimeWire marketplace, ensuring long-term financial participation in the success of their work. * Scarcity and Exclusivity: Creators can choose to release content publicly or restrict it to "premium subscribers." This allows for the creation of gated communities where fans pay for exclusive access to digital collectibles. The LMWR token and the monetization model. The economic engine of the new LimeWire is the LMWR token, a utility token that facilitates transactions and rewards within the ecosystem. This tokenized approach represents a shift toward a "circular economy" where the platform, the creators, and the consumers are financially aligned. The monetization strategy is multi-faceted, focusing on both active and passive income streams for creators: Ad revenue sharing. In a move that mirrors the revenue-sharing models of platforms like YouTube, LimeWire offers a generous ad revenue split. Creators receive up to 70% of the revenue generated from advertisements displayed alongside their content. This is a significant departure from traditional social media platforms where creators often receive a much smaller fraction of ad revenue, if any. Subscription revenue. The platform allows creators to establish a subscription-based model. Fans can subscribe to a creator's profile to gain access to exclusive AI-generated content. This provides a predictable, recurring income stream for artists, musicians, and designers who build a dedicated following on the platform. Token utility. The LMWR token is used for: * Prompt Payments: Users can pay for AI generations using LMWR. * Trading: The token is listed on major global exchanges, including Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap, allowing creators to convert their earnings into other cryptocurrencies or fiat currency. * Governance: Token holders may eventually participate in the governance of the platform, voting on feature updates and ecosystem developments. Pricing tiers and accessibility. To ensure broad adoption, LimeWire utilizes a tiered subscription model designed to scale with the needs of the user. While a free tier exists to lower the barrier to entry, premium tiers offer enhanced computational resources and higher revenue-sharing percentages. * Free Tier: Provides 10 credits daily, allowing for up to 20 image generations. Users in this tier receive a 50% share of ad revenue. * Basic ($9.99/mo): Increases capacity to 1,000 credits and 2,000 image generations, along with early access to new models. * Advanced ($29/mo): Aimed at frequent creators, offering 3,750 credits and a 60% ad revenue share. * Pro ($49/mo): Targets professional designers with 5,000 credits and the maximum 70% ad revenue share. * Pro Plus ($99/mo): The highest tier, providing 11,250 credits and up to 22,500 image generations per month. All premium plans remove advertisements for the user and provide a "Pro" profile badge, faster processing times, and a full history of all generated assets. Broader impact and future outlook. The transformation of LimeWire is indicative of a broader trend in the technology sector: the convergence of AI and Web3. By combining generative tools with blockchain-based ownership, LimeWire is addressing the "attribution crisis" currently facing the AI industry. As AI models are often trained on vast datasets without direct compensation to the original artists, LimeWire's model of rewarding creators for new, platform-generated content offers a potential path forward for ethical AI utilization. The platform has already attracted high-profile endorsements and participation from the entertainment industry. Artists such as Deadmau5, Sean Kingston, and Soulja Boy have utilized the platform to release NFT-based music and visual content, signaling that the brand has successfully shed its "piracy" stigma in the eyes of many industry professionals. Looking ahead, LimeWire has announced plans to expand its AI Studio beyond static imagery. The upcoming launch of AI-powered music and video generation tools will position the platform as a full-service multimedia studio. This expansion is expected to attract a new wave of musicians and filmmakers who can use AI to storyboard, compose, and distribute their work within a single ecosystem. Conclusion. LimeWire's evolution from a 2000s-era file-sharing service to a 2024-era AI powerhouse represents one of the most significant brand pivots in digital history. By integrating advanced generative models with the Polygon and Algorand blockchains, the platform provides a unique value proposition: the ability to create, own, and monetize digital content in a streamlined, automated fashion. As the platform expands into music and video, its success will likely depend on its ability to maintain a balance between user-friendly AI tools and a robust, fair economic system for the creators who drive the ecosystem. For now, LimeWire stands as a compelling example of how legacy brands can find new life at the intersection of emerging technologies. Subscriber